5 Things To Watch For At The Fortnite World Cup
Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images
The Fortnite World Cup is officially upon us. With the Creative mode tournament running as we speak, here’s five things to keep an eye on this weekend.
1. Who will emerge from the duos tournament?
With the Pro-Am being held later today, our first major competition will be the duos tournament tomorrow. The action is set to get underway at 1 PM EST and should last about three and a half hours. As for who’s going to emerge victorious? There’s a lot of potential winners. Saf and Zayt are always a good bet. The pair dominated at the ESL Katowice Royale. However, with competitors from Cloud 9, TSM, FaZe Clan, NRG, and 100 Thieves at the competition, it’ll be a tough road to climb.
2. Walking The Line Between Serious and Silly
Look, Fortnite isn’t PUBG and that’s okay. Fortnite took a very light-hearted approach to the Battle Royale genre that has endeared it to millions. For the most part, Epic has taken a similar approach to their esports and tournament scene. However, with the esports world at large tuning in to this event, the World Cup needs to step it up. I’m not saying it needs to feel Orwellian. However, if Fortnite wants to be taken seriously as an esport, it needs to take itself seriously as an esport. This is your Super Bowl, your World Series. Finding a way to walk the line between serious and silly will be paramount to the success of the event.
3. No Last Minute Patches
Epic has already said they won’t be making any last minute patches to screw with the game. Now it’s on them to stick to that. In past events, we’ve seen sudden patches to the game the day before a tournament starts. Not only is this unfair to the competitors, it’s jarring for the audience. The Fortnite World Cup should be about who the best in the world is, not who can adapt the quickest to a new patch. Sure, adapting to new circumstances is part of being a competitor. However, no one wants to see a repeat of the infinity sword fiasco.
4. Major Names In The Solos Tournament
Flip through the list of qualifiers for the solos tournament and you’ll see that the best in the world are indeed on hand to compete. While some major names like Ninja are notably absent from the list, you don’t have to look far to find the likes of Tfue and Vivid. Shout out to friend of the show, x2Twins Jordan, who earned his way into the World Cup in the seventh week of qualifiers. It all adds up to a must see main event on Sunday at 1 PM EST.
5. The Audience
I think the audience at this event is going to be very telling about the future of the game. It should be pretty crowded, but I’ll be interested to see just how full Arthur Ashe Stadium is. With many Fortnite events still taking place online, it’s a big ask to fill a 23,000 seat stadium. The staggering prize pool and overwhelming popularity of the game should draw a crowd, but we’ll see how it compares to the Overwatch League Finals which packed the Barclay’s Center last year. In addition, the age of attendees should be interesting to see. Will it be mostly kids with their parents? Or will the draw of the World Cup bring an older demographic along with it?
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